Battlefield 3 Will Require Origin

[Operations]

Actually, it's a Lebanon thing. Here, retail copies of new games cost somewhere between 60 to 80 USD, where it would usually cost about 50 bucks off of Steam. >_<

Ahhh like this then http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEsRYkRpySY

 

[Jnat]

"but another client running in the background, sucking up CPU cycles and RAM, is not something that's likely to make gamers very happy."

Why don't you just shut down steam while playing bf3 then?

 

[Bajinga]

I don't see anything wrong with this plan.
EA are just trying to get some more members on their service; Valve have done the sameut

I hate EA, I really do, but Origins is good for what it serves.

 

[manythings]

"Steam doesn't update EA games like we want them to so... No Battlefield. We promise! It's about updates!"

Days later. Battlefield requires Origin.
Fuck it. I'm playing it on my Xbox.

And many, MANY games require Steam. Everything bad people are going to say about this Valve has already done a long time ago.

And Steam is a stellar and robust service that kicks Origin in the ass. I have installed 5 games on Origin (DVD games I could transfer over for sh!ts and giggles) and some of them, including Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect 2, didn't even install properly, failing to install and run the required DRM checking software. I then had to use a DOS prompt to run the software that origin's installer failed to. Yet, Mass Effect failed to run. Turned out out it was Origin's social aspect that was crashing the game. EA's response each time I've had problems with Origin: 'uninstall everything and try again'.

So sure, 'Valve did it' too, but it has done it so much better and with so much more professionalism and care for the end user. Don't for a second try to equate Origin with Steam. Perhaps you will answer cynically that Valve, as it is a business, only pretends to care about its customers, but it has done a lot more to show that its intent is genuine than EA has even done. I've been playing EA games since I had to load them via cassette tape. They've never fostered the love in me that Valve has with just 3 game franchises.

Steam was shit for a very long time so if your counter is "It works better now" that's not really changing the fact that Steam is forced on the consumer even by devs other than Valve.

 

[Keava]

What worries me is the "loyalty program". I have no idea what it means but it sounds sinister.

Loyalty program is, hmm, i don't know what types of those you may have in your country. But general idea is the more you buy from Origin the more "bonus points" of sorts you would get that later you can exchange for either a lower priced games or just for discount coupons.

CDProjekt does something like this in their retail distribution. Every boxed version of game you buy distributed by them contains a small card inside with a code, when you put the code in on their website you get points, value depends on price of the game, and you can use those points to buy games from GoG.com catalogue rather than pay money.

Or like on gas stations, they give you points and then you can exchange those points for a toaster or a beer mug, or whatever they might have in offer.

 

[Phantom Echo]

Well, I refused to buy Fallout: New Vegas because it wanted to FORCE me to play on Steam. I haven't played TF2 or CS because they're on Steam, and I refuse to pay for a game only to have someone else own it.

This is a trend in gaming which I will not abide... and I choose to vote with my money.

While folks sit here and justify the bastardization of the gaming industry based on which company whores them out better... I'll be contentedly playing Minecraft and sipping Mountain Dew through a crazy straw.

-Cheers.

 

[RobCoxxy]

I'll download Origin, but fuck if I'm going to buy anything from it.

Pretty much this.

 

[Vrach]

That's not the problem. Origin IP blocking regions of the world. That's the fucking problem. If this is the case, I quite literally won't be able to play the game. Really hope there's something amiss here cause fuck knows you don't need a DRM to protect an online game with an authentication system.

Steam has region IP locks as well. Point being?

Everyone saying "everyone loves Valve", but what if that's not true? Really the only game i liked from Valve was first Portal, and that's about it.
I applaud them for bringing indie devs into the spotlight but currently they are loosing even that, since other digital distributors do the thing better.
I dislike Valve for not letting me pay in my country currency, forcing me to use euros, and thus making me pay 30% more for a game, despite the fact other DDs do not have such nonsense, including the "oh so evil" EA.

The famous Steam Deals? They are still more expensive than my local retailers deals and those don't vanish over the weekend with odd timing, because 11am for Valve is different than my 11am. I can get a game for as little as 0.25 euro/0.33$ at a normal media shop here with some of the deals...

Sorry, personally i just treat those services as patchers/launchers, like many of online games do have, especially MMOs. I don't buy a game from a certain place only because i like or dislike given distributor, i buy it where i get the best deal, the logo on a shop means nothing.

Point being that Steam has never made a game exclusive to their service and thus unavailable to those areas (also, where is it region blocked? I saw certain titles not being sold in certain areas, but never the whole service?). Origin is doing that. I don't mind Origin at all, I have no reason to really, it's just an EA Store-turned app and I don't give two shits about it. What I do give a shit about is being prevented from buying and playing titles because they're Origin-exclusive.

EA allows payment in all world currencies? Yeah, no. They don't even do business with the world as a whole, most, if not all larger companies have wider coverage than them in that respect.

Steam deals? If you can get it cheaper elsewhere, do. Sometimes they beat others, sometimes they don't, I personally haven't seen a copy of both L4D games going for 5 euros anywhere else, nor Saints Row 2/KOTOR being priced at 2.5 euros. Likewise of course, I've found better deals on Amazon, Zavvi and other companies at times. But Steam really does have some of the best deals during holidays.

Agreed completely on your final point. I really have nothing against Origin because it's from EA. Hell, I like EA, when I see the EA logo on a product I think good things, not bad. What I do mind is when they take an incredibly amateurish service (being one of the two largest companies and doing less in every aspect than your much smaller counterparts is being amateur in my book) and shove it down players throats, giving them no choice about it. If they introduced it as a choice, I wouldn't mind, hell I DIDN'T mind, you can look up my earlier posts on the subject, I was defending them against Steam fanbois and EA haters.

I'm not praising Steam, I like it for some things, dislike it for others, but it's undoubtedly a far better service. But that's completely beside my point, I haven't even mentioned Steam in the post you've quoted, I hate the fact that I can buy a retail disc and then not be able to play the game because it requires me to install Origin that's gonna region block me. As reasons go, I'd say that's a pretty fucking solid one.

 

[Mantonio]

I'll add my voice to the chorus of those who don't see what the big deal is. This is EXACTLY the same thing that Valve did with Half-Life 2 and you might think that Steam is pretty shit-hot now but believe me, it was a piece of crap when it launched. So why is it okay for one but not the other?

Because Valve hasn't got a reputation for being an evil company.

EA held that throne for a long time, and has only recently (just) lost it to Activision. I have no reason to trust them.

Valve is earning one, and it's because of Steam.

How? What is Steam doing?

 

[MonkeyPunch]

Ironic that a PC based CDS is going to end up "making the PC look bad" by apparently (from this thread) turning many users to the console version, stacking the sales numbers for console whilst decreasing the PC sales figures and fortifying the notion that PC gaming is becoming less worthwhile for Publishers.

I mean I can't blame people for deciding on the console version in order not to have to deal with Origin.
Why am I getting this feeling that Origin is more of a blackmail than anything else?
Maybe because if they had done this with a game with less interest behind it the sales of the game would have bombed because people would have made the decision a lot easier to not bother with Origin.

For me personally all this means is that I'm not buying BF3 day one. I will wait and see how Origin does for everyone else first because there are many, many questions open about it, it's performance and it's usability. It's more-or-less untested and unproven.

I wonder what will happen post-BF3 and how well Origin will be doing then too.

Lastly - I find EA's stance on Steam quite ludicrous "The service limits our ability to deliver patches and downloadable content directly to players."
Steam always updates my games automatically and pain free... so that is evidently just a poor excuse as to why they are forcing users to use Origin.

 

[Lord Krunk]

Just gonna say, if they expect me to use Origin to play ME3 I am going to end somebody's shit.

 

[Natural Philosopher]

I think the problem here is the messenger not the message. If we can agree that Origin and Steam are [at least suppose to be] similar services, then Steam comes off as benevolent Santa Claus handing out cheap games to the masses (based on reputation and current majority). All well and good, but if Al Capone (EA) did the same thing you would be hesitant and suspicious. Even if they do the same service you're reputation will affect how you are perceived and only time and changes in beahvior can reverse that.

 

[PingoBlack]

Just gonna say, if they expect me to use Origin to play ME3 I am going to end somebody's shit.

Don't doubt that for a second ...

 

[Braedan]

ahhh. Remember fellow PC gamers, when we didn't need to log in to accounts, or validate passwords or remember security codes to play online? All we did was enter username, and the server did the rest....

Then again, I remember being forced to download Gamespy because the programmers wouldn't give the game a server list..... So it's not really any better than it was 10 years ago.

 

[TwoSidesOneCoin]

Well...I don't think I'll be buying the PC version now. I really want to....I have a nice gaming rig, but don't really care to install origin. Regardless of how much space or how easy it is to use.

Again I'm offering my opinion/choice here, so keep your condescending opinions to yourself, that'd be just so swell!

I'll probably just pick it up on the xbox and dream of the huge 64 player battles.

Unless someone finds a way to play it without requiring origin, even then, ea would probably crack down on it asap.

sad day, eh?

captcha: rommeet system

couldn't be any more right there little buddy.

Edit: I had originally planned on picking up a physical copy of BF3, but this just killed it.

 

[Uszi]

Wow, so originally I wasn't going to use origin at all. Because, you know, fuck them.

Now, I guess, I gotta get down on my hands and knees and start pleasing EA. BF3 is worth it, unfortunately.

I guess this is what it feels like to be a prostitute.

 

[EHKOS]

One hundred and one of EA's quarters, one hundred twoooo of EA's quarters....seriously this is all that comes to mind.

 

[JediVash]

In my country we face the mighty power of taxes so our games end up being 59~79 USD on PC, the poor console guys are worse since their games cost somewhere between 100-150 USD.
Therefore I get everything I buy from steam since it's cheaper =P